It
happened when police attacked striking workers in Malkerns.
Children at St. Andrew’s
Primary were taken to Mankayane Government Hospital for treatment.
Police fired teargas, water
cannon and live bullets during a strike of kombi (bus) drivers and conductors
on Friday (27 September 2019). It was
the second time in three days that police had fired teargas at striking
workers.
The workers blocked roads
in the small town, the Observer on Saturday newspaper in Swaziland reported.
It said the workers were only armed with stones and bottles. ‘Armed police
officers charged in firing some shots and teargas canisters,’ it reported. Some
of the workers entered the school during the violence.
The protest was over the continuing
arrest for traffic offences of public transport drivers servicing the Malkerns
route. ‘To them, the rate at which they were time and again found to be on the
wrong side of the traffic laws was an orchestrated move aimed at victimising
them,’ the Observer reported.
Two
days earlier, police fired rubber bullets and teargas at
striking public service workers, injuring at least 15. The workers were at the
end of a three-day strike over cost-of-living pay rises. The violence happened
at Mbabane after what local
media called ‘a long day of peaceful protest’. Workers had been protesting
across the kingdom.
See also
Swaziland
police fire rubber bullets and teargas injuring 15 during national strike
Police
Turn Swaziland City Into ‘Warzone’ as National Strike Enters Second Day
Widespread
Condemnation of Swaziland Police Brutal Attacks on Workers
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